Joseph happy to have Spurs' confidence

Updated 7:56 pm, Tuesday, October 29, 2013

Photo: David Zalubowski / Associated Press

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Backup point guard Cory Joseph had the fourth-year option on his rookie-scale contract picked up by the Spurs even after he went scoreless in 20 minutes in a preseason game against the Rockets last week.

Backup point guard Cory Joseph had the fourth-year option on his rookie-scale contract picked up by the Spurs even after he went scoreless in 20 minutes in a preseason game against the Rockets last week.

Photo: David Zalubowski / Associated Press

Joseph happy to have Spurs' confidence

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The final week before Wednesday's regular-season opener against the Memphis Grizzlies didn't begin well for the Spurs' incumbent at the backup point guard spot behind Tony Parker.

Cory Joseph started against Houston a week ago and went scoreless in nearly 20 minutes, missing all three of his shots.

His shaky performance in the preseason finale didn't help his nerves as he awaited an important decision the club had to make about his future. So when the Spurs announced they were picking up the fourth-year options on the rookie-scale contracts of forward Kawhi Leonard and Joseph, the Canadian-born rookie was relieved.

“It's always good when you have another year in the NBA,” Joseph said. “Obviously, I'm back here with the Spurs, and now I'm focusing on the season.”

Joseph will wait to see if coach Gregg Popovich puts him on the court the first time Parker needs a rest. The backup job became a stiff competition after a trimmer, fitter Patty Mills averaged 10.0 points in the preseason.

Global diversity: Not only will the Spurs' opening-night roster break their NBA record for the most international players with 10, but it also will be the most diverse with players from seven foreign countries.

Last season the Spurs established an opening-night record with eight international players from six countries. They added a ninth, Australian Aron Baynes, in March. The addition of Italian Marco Belinelli increased the number of international players to 10 and added a seventh country.

Four Spurs (Jeff Ayres, Matt Bonner, Danny Green and Leonard) are homegrown Americans. Three (Parker, Boris Diaw and Nando De Colo) are French; two (Baynes and Mills) are Australian; Tim Duncan hails from the U.S. Virgin Islands; Manu Ginobili is Argentine; Tiago Splitter was born in Brazil and has dual citizenship in Brazil and Spain; Joseph is Canadian; and Belinelli is Italian.

Cheerio, old chap: The Spurs' resident polyglot, Ginobili said speaking with a British accent in one of the H-E-B commercial spots he shot last week with Duncan, Parker, Leonard and Bonner was a highlight of his brief “acting” career.

Ginobili and Parker appear in one spot dining on prime steaks and raving about them as if they were cast members in “Downton Abbey.”